


Long Work Days, Short Stories

by sirtalen



Series: Judy and Nick's Tales [3]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Slice of Life, Workplace
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2018-12-16 06:01:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 16,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11822685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sirtalen/pseuds/sirtalen
Summary: Just some random short bits from Judy and Nick's police work.





	1. Talk to the Paw

_ “Zoo-Adam 12, 10-20 at the corner of Antelope and River Ford. Looks like an SUV and a compact,”  _ Clawhauser’s voice came over the radio.  _ “Ambulance is on its way, possible injuries. One driver reported to be having difficulty communicating with bystanders.” _

 

“This is Zoo-Adam 12. Acknowledge, accident at Antelope and River Ford. We’re on our way,” Judy said. She flipped on their cruiser’s lights and siren, pulling a U turn at the intersection and heading in the direction of the incident.

 

“Hope nobody got a head injury,” Nick said, setting his coffee into the cup holder.

 

“Hope not,” she agreed. She slowed down as the accident came into view. A white SUV sized for large mammals blocked most of the left lane, its left front wheel dug into the rear bumper and trunk of a smaller red convertible. She angled their cruiser in place to warn drivers out of the blocked lane, and hopped out, Nick following.

 

They found both the drivers, one a large male bison wearing khakis and a polo shirt, the other a female cheetah in a business suit, standing by the curb. To Judy’s eyes neither of them looked injured, but the cheetah appeared very upset, tears running down the black markings of her cheeks, while the bison looked like he was trying control his temper.

 

“We’re Officers Hopps and Wilde,” Judy said. “Are you the drivers of these vehicles? Was anyone injured? 

 

“I’m fine, officer” the bison said. “I was going to make a lefthand turn when this moron cut me off.”

 

“Is that what happened, ma’am?” Nick asked the cheetah, whose eyes were closed as she dabbed at her cheek with a handkerchief. When she didn’t answer immediately he repeated himself. “Ma’am?”

 

“See,” the bison said, pointing to her. “Half the time she acts like she doesn’t even hear me, and when she does answer me she sounds like a retard.” Done wiping her eyes, the cheetah glared at the bison when he pointed to her. “Oh, yeah. Now you want to act like you hear me.”

 

“Sir, please let us handle this,” Judy said firmly. She turned to the cheetah, “Ma’am, are you alright?”

 

The cheetah blinked, then nodded and finally said in an extremely nasal tone, paws gesturing, “I‘m okay.” She pointed to her ear. “I’m deaf. I need an interpreter.”

 

“Oh!” Judy nodded vigorously, then turned to Nick. “You want to call in for one while I question the bison?”

 

“Nah, I got this,” he said, grinning. He turned to the cheetah, and began to gesture and speak to her, paws and fingers moving carefully. “I’m Officer Wilde. I know sign language. But I’m out of practice. Please go slowly.” 

 

The cheetah’s expression turned to one of relief, and a wide smile crossed her face. She began signing again, and Nick translated.

 

“My name is Addy Fleetfoot,” he said, as Judy wrote her statement down. “I was merging into the turn lane when the SUV hit the back of my car. I had seen him in my rearview mirror, but he’d been behind me in the middle lane. I didn’t see him move into the lane with me.”

 

“Okay, thank you. Please stay. We must talk to the other driver,” Nick signed to her.

 

Judy turned her attention to the bison. “Sir, were you both trying to get into the turn lane at the same time?”

 

“That’s right,” the bison agreed. “She was taking her sweet time about it, so I honked at her so she’d hurry it up. She should have heard me and gotten out of the way.”

 

“Sir, you were behind her, it was your responsibility to maintain a safe stopping distance between your two vehicles,” she informed him sternly. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to give you a ticket for failing to yield.”

 

“Aw,  _ man… _ ”

 

Judy quickly wrote him up while Nick snapped photos of the damage with his department issue phone. Twenty minutes later Addy headed off in the tow truck with her poor compact, and she and Nick directed traffic around the SUV, very deliberately not helping the bison as he changed his tire.

 

After he’d driven off and they got back into the cruiser, Judy said, “I didn’t know you could speak sign language, Nick.”

 

He shrugged. “I picked it up as a kid. There was a deaf family in our apartment building, so all of us learned at least a little so we could talk to them.” Nick grinned at her, “You should have realized it though. What did you think I was doing when I was telling you my plan to get past the guards when we snuck into Cliffside Asylum back during the Night Howler case?”

 

Judy blushed. “Um, randomly making gestures that made no sense to me?” she admitted sheepishly.

 

“Hah!”

 

“So what other languages do you know?”

 

NIck scratched his ear idly. “Just a bit of Spanish, and some rude Italian.”

 

She smiled at him. “You should tell Chief Bogo. You’d make a great Deaf Outreach liaison.”

 

“You trying to make more work for me, Carrots?” he asked, amused.

 

“Just trying to make the world a better place.”   
  


“Fair enough,” he said and signed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI Nick knowing sign language is apparently [totally canon](https://www.reddit.com/r/zootopia/comments/4s8yyv/apparent_meaning_behind_nicks_hand_signals/).
> 
> The amount of world building the animation team did for this film is ridiculous.


	2. Monster Mash

_ Zoo Adam-12, Code 594,  _ Clawhauser reported.  _ Monster mash in Little Rodentia.  _

 

“Confirm, code 594, Little Rodentia. We’re on our way,” Nick replied, bringing up the lights and turning at the next intersection.

 

“Code 594 is Malicious Mischief,” Judy said, ears perking up as they zoomed down the street. “But what’s a ‘monster mash?’”

 

“If you’d grown up in Zootopia you’d know,” Nick said, grinning. “It’s one of those stupid kid’s games that can suddenly get  _ real  _ serious, if the wrong people get involved.”

 

She cocked an eyebrow at him. “You going to actually explain it to me, or will I have to guess?”

 

“No need, you can see for yourself.” He pulled the cruiser to a stop and pointed at the wall marking the edge of Little Rodentia. NIck was rewarded with seeing Judy’s eyes widen in disbelief as she saw what was happening.

 

Above the three foot high wall the figure of a monster towered, roaring at the neighborhood’s tiny citizens. Or to be more accurate, a mammal in a six foot tall, inflatable t-rex costume tottered and wobbled, letting out the occasional “ _ Grr! Argh!”  _ as they were squeakily cursed at by the locals trying to get out of his way.

 

“Maybe someone is making a Godzilla film?” Judy offered dubiously.

 

“Nah, Toho always works with the neighborhood association when they film here,” Nick said. They both got of the cruiser. “You want to take him down, while I look for his buddies?”

 

“Gimme a boost?” she asked.

 

“Sure thing.” Nick leaned down, cupping his paws as Judy stepped into them. Then he flung her over the wall as she jumped, the bunny officer arrowing towards the errant t-rex. She impacted on the back of the inflated head, digging her claws in for purchase as the suit tipped dangerously forward.

 

While Judy started demanding the t-rex cease and dismiss immediately, Nick dropped to all fours and slunk through the neighborhood gate, rising up to eye level with the roof of a line of brownstones lining the street. He found what he was looking for about three doors down, a group of about a half-dozen teenaged mice hooting in amusement and holding up their phones to record the scene.

 

“Oh, man, look at Reggie!” one of the boy mice said. “That bunny cop is gonna knock him down into the street.”

 

“Hey, we’d better get out of here before she spots us,” another said worriedly.

 

“Nah,” the first one said, “she’s too busy with Reg, she won’t see us.”

 

Some opportunities were just too good to pass up, Nick decided. He rose up slowly from behind the building, the late afternoon sun at his back creating a long shadow that soon draped over the young mice. As they turned around in surprise, he bared his fangs and declared, “She won’t see you, but Giant Cop will!  _ Rawr! _ ”

 

The mice all screeched and ran for the fire escape, only to be blocked as Nick draped his arm across the edge of the roof. He grabbed a large evidence bag from his back pocket, scooping up the miscreants and dropping them in. “Okay boys and girls, you’re being detained for questioning for the moment. Enjoy yourselves in there.”

 

“You can’t do this!” the first one shouted. “My dad’s a lawyer!”

 

“Good for you. It’ll save on your legal bills,” Nick said. He clambered over the wall. Meanwhile Judy, having knocked down the would-be kaiju, was now dragging a sheepish looking wolf, paws cuffed behind his back and hobbled by the deflated remains of his costume still wrapped around him, towards their cruiser.

 

When Nick dropped to his feet, he found a white SUV illegally parked in front of a fire hydrant, a polar bear in a suit standing beside it.

 

“Oh, see that polar bear? Now you’re in for it!” the one mouse continued to rant. “My dad knows Mr. Big too! He  _ runs  _ Little Rodentia. You don’t want to get on his bad side.”

 

“Oh, I know,” Nick said mildly.

 

“Hi, Raymond!” Judy waved to the polar bear cheerfully, her other paw hanging onto the wolf’s ear as she sat atop the wall.

 

“Uh, you know Raymond?” the mouse said, his anger deflating suddenly.

 

“Hello, Officer Judy. Hello, Officer Nicholas,” Raymond greeted them ponderously. “Heard call about monster mash on police scanner, so I come.”

 

“Could you help me get this guy over the wall?” she asked.

 

“Certainly.” Raymond reached over and grabbed the wolf by the scruff of the neck, lifting him over the wall and dropping him to the ground. Reggie landed on his tail and wisely opted to stay there, as the polar bear gave the bagged mice a gimlet eye.

 

“You are Jimmy, yes?” he asked the leader.

 

“Yeah?” Jimmy answered, looking terrified. “Are you here to help us with the cops?”

 

“Jimmy,” Raymond replied, “Officer Judy and Officer Nicholas are your best friends right now.”

 

Jimmy blinked. “They are?” he asked.

 

“Yes. Because until the police are done with you, Jimmy....” Raymond bared his teeth, “...Mr. Big  _ can’t start. _ ”

 

“Um….” Jimmy looked to Nick beseechingly. “We’ll go quietly, officer.”

 

“Smartest move you’ve made all day, kiddo,” Nick noted with a grin.

 


	3. Domestic Disturbance

_ Zoo Adam-12, we’ve got a Code 237-D, Savannah Central _ , Clawhauser reported over the radio. The big cheetah sounded apologetic,  _ Sorry guys, look like it’s in your apartment building, the Grand Pangolin Arms. _

 

“Acknowledged, Grand Pangolin Arms,” Judy called back.

 

“Aw, shit,” Nick muttered. “I hate, hate,  _ hate  _ these kind of calls.”

 

“Tell me about it,” Judy agreed sadly. Domestic felonies were one of the worst part of policing, the bunny knew. She was willing to put that up next to being shot at, because at least being shot at didn’t happen anywhere near as often.

 

They pulled up to their apartment building, to find Mrs. Dharma, their landlady, waiting impatiently outside, standing beside a broken flatscreen TV that was lying facedown on the sidewalk.

 

“Hello, Mrs. Dharma,” Judy greeted, as she and Nick got out of their police cruiser. She looked down at the busted flatscreen, up at the line of windows parallel to the impact point, and noted which were open. “Bucky and Pronk?” she asked.

 

“Bucky and Pronk,” Miss Dharma agreed. “You tell those boys that they are going too far this time.”

 

Judy sighed and nodded. “Will do, ma’am.”

 

“And that I am not going to be the one cleaning up this mess!”

 

“Yes, ma’am.” Judy squared her shoulders and marched up the stairs, Nick at her heels. When she reached the door of  the kudu and oryx’s apartment, she gave it a sharp rap with her knuckle and shouted, “ZPD! Open up!”

 

“We’re busy!” Bucky called back.

 

“This is totally a family thing!” Pronk added.

 

Nick rolled his eyes, and called out, “Either open the door, or we  _ kick  _ the door open, guys. You want that on your damage deposit?”

 

“We’re good now!” Bucky shouted.

 

“There’s a dead TV on the sidewalk that says otherwise,” Judy added. “Now open up!”

 

They heard the sound of rattling latches, and the door cracked open to reveal the face of Bucky Oryx-Anderson, the kudu part of the male couple, looking at them. “Look, I’m sorry we got a bit loud,” he said, in rare moment of apology.

 

“May we come inside, sir?” Nick asked. Taking Bucky’s lack of argument as assent, he slipped under the kudu’s arm and through the door, Judy following. They found Pronk, an oryx, leaning against the wall, glaring at them. As Judy had seen from outside, the window to their tiny apartment was open, and there was a large empty space in the living room’s entertainment center where the TV had sat.

 

“You can’t come in here without permission,” Pronk pointed out.

 

“We’re already in here,” Nick pointed out, avoiding the question. “Now what the heck is going on with you guys?”

 

“It was a stupid argument,” Bucky began.

 

“It wasn’t stupid,  _ you _ were stupid!” Pronk interrupted.

 

Judy stuck two finger in her mouth and blew a loud whistle. “ _ One at a time, _ ” she shouted. In a more normal tone of voice she added, “Bucky, you first.”

 

“We were watching TV,” Bucky said.

 

“ _ I  _ had the remote,” Pronk put in.

 

Nick pointed a warning finger. “Bucky is the one talking right now.”

 

Bucky went on, “So anyway, Pronk turns on Netfangs and says he wants to watch  _ Star Wars: Rhino One _ . I told him that it was a lousy movie and we should watch  _ Star Tracks: Beyond _ .”

 

“Which is a _really_ _lousy_ movie!” Pronk butted in again.

 

“No,  _ Rhino One  _ is lousy a movie!” Bucky shot back.

 

“ _ Guys!”  _ Judy shouted. When they’d settled down again, she continued, “You both know it’s possible to like more than one franchise at a time, right?”

 

Bucky and Pronk looked at each other, then to Nick and Judy. “ _ No, that’s  _ **_stupid_ ** **,** ” they replied in unison.

 

“Moving along,” Nick interrupted. “Pronk, what happened after that?”

 

“Bucky tried to grab the remote,” Pronk said. His eyes started shifting around, not looking at the two officers. “We kinda wrestled for it, and bumped into the TV… which… fell out… of the entertainment center.... and then the window.”

 

Judy and Nick both glanced at the entertainment center, then the window, which was at least eight feet away, and then back to Bucky and Pronk. “Fell out,” Judy repeated, letting the dubiousness of that statement sit there for a bit.

 

“Yeah,” Pronk said, keeping his gaze averted from hers.

 

“Totally,” Bucky agreed, doing the same.

 

“And when it was ‘bumped’ and ‘fell out’ did either of you bother to look if there were any mammals on the sidewalk below?” she asked pointedly. “Maybe small mammals, like  _ mice _ ?”

 

Bucky and Pronk both suddenly turned pale. “It’s my fault,” Pronk said abruptly. “It was all my fault.”

 

“No, it was  _ mine _ ,” Bucky insisted.

 

Pronk turned to face him. “Look, just  _ shut up _ …” he began to shout.

 

“Okay boys,” Nick interrupted again. “Why don’t all four of us take a walk downstairs, and see if we’ll be arresting you for second-degree mammalslaughter, alright?”

 

Judy let Nick lead the way, while she brought up the rear, the uncharacteristically quiet Bucky and Pronk between them. When they reached the sidewalk, she asked Miss Dharma, “Has anyone disturbed the crime scene since we arrived?” Both of the tall prey winced, not missing the nuance.

 

“No, no one has,” Miss Dharma said. “I want those two boys to clean it up.”

 

“It may be more complicated than that,” Nick said. He went over to their cruiser and reached in through the driver’s side window, grabbing a pair of latex gloves from the box they kept on the dash. He made a show of slipping them over his paws, then kneeled down to take careful hold of the edge of the TV, lifting it slightly as he peered underneath it, letting out a small, “ _ Mmm…”  _ Then he flipped it over, revealing nothing more than a few bit of shattered glass. Both the mammals visibly slumped in relief.

 

“Looks like you boys got lucky,” Judy said, then added, “ _ This  _ time.”

 

“Um, we’re sorry?” Bucky said quietly.

 

“And what else?”

 

“We’ll clean up the mess, and take it to the dump,” Pronk added. 

 

“The recycling center, we mean,” Bucky corrected.

 

“Right,” Pronk agreed.

 

“Very good,” Judy. She brought out her notepad and started writing. “In the meantime, we’re citing you both for disturbing the peace, littering, and illegal dumping. That sound fair to you?”

 

“That’s fair,” Pronk said quickly.

 

“Totally,” Bucky agreed.

 

“Great.” She smiled. “Now don’t make us come back here while we’re on shift, okay?”

 

“Yes, officer,” they both said in unison. They glanced at each other and then picked the TV up, carrying it down the sidewalk towards their car.

 

“You think they learned their lesson?” Nick asked, as they heard Bucky and Pronk start to shout at each other, “ _ You’re moving too fast!” “No you’re moving too slow!” _

 

“I give it a week before they’re back at it,” Judy said, smiling.

 

“That’s what I like about you, Carrots, You’re always the optimist.”


	4. Munchie Run

**Tundra Town, Icepick Eatery, 1 AM**

  
  


“That’s a particularly forlorn look you’ve got there, Officer Wilde,” Judy teased, coming back with her coffee refill to the booth she and Nick had staked out in the corner of the all night diner.

 

Nick looked up at her, his chin resting on his folded arms, in front of the remains of a plate of pancakes and toast. “We are three hours into our fourth late-night shift this week, it is the middle of winter, so this neighborhood has gone from ‘below freezing’ to ‘hypothermia in five minutes or less’, and which also means my winter coat is coming in, which makes me  _ itch. _ ”

 

“But you’re so  _ fluffy _ now,” Judy exclaimed, reaching over to squeeze his cheeks briefly. Nick stuck his tongue out at her in retaliation, then continued.

 

“Furthermore, I have finished my dinner and now must contemplate dessert,” he declared solemnly. “Alas, this greasy spoon only offers cake and pie.”

 

“We could go to a donut shop,” Judy pointed out.

 

“Ah, but there lies my terrible dilemma.” Nick raised a finger in edification. “I am at a loss to find any joy in pastry products in this great metropolis, for I have tasted the sublime  confectionaries that might be obtained in your hick hometown, in the shop of that master chef, Gideon Grey.”

 

“You didn’t get enough sleep yesterday afternoon after coming off shift, did you?” Judy asked. “You only get  _ really  _ poetic when you’re half dozing.”

 

“This is true, on both points. B&P’s apartment is right over mine, remember? They were going at it, in all senses of the term, while I was trying to sleep.”

 

“Oh, I remember. Why do you think I bought those noise canceling headphones?”

 

“Smart bunny,” he allowed. “Anyway, I’m still hungry and nothing on the menu appeals to me.”

 

“Pizza?”

 

“Hmm. Cheese, tomato sauce, carbs, heartburn. Nah.”

 

“Ice cream?”

 

“There’s no such thing as an all night ice cream shop.” Nick paused, brow furrowing. “Is there?”

 

“It’s Zootopia. There’s at least five of everything here, remember? And I know just the mammal who might know.”

 

Judy unclipped her radio from her belt and called, “Zoo Adam-12 to Central. Clawhauser, are you there?”

 

“ _ Always for you two,”  _ the cheetah answered happily. “ _ What’s up?” _

 

“We’ve still got the munchies and have thirty minutes until we’re back on shift. Is there anywhere good to get ice cream at this hour?”

 

_ “Ooooh! I know just the place! Let me give you the address.” _

 

Ten minutes later they parked their cruiser in front of a painfully familiar looking storefront. Judy hopped out of the cruiser, looking at the _Jumbeaux’s 24-Hour Cafe_ sign over the storefront window with distaste.

 

“Huh, it’s a franchise,” Nick noted. “Learn something new every day.”

 

“We’ll find something else,” Judy said, paws stuffed into the pockets of her coat, ears down flat in irritation.

 

Nick grinned down at her. “Now, now. Clawhauser has never steered us wrong yet.”

 

“Are you sure, Nick?” she asked.

 

“I’m a cop now, remember? This badge I’m wearing has to be good for something, besides a discount at Dunkin’s.”

 

“If you’re sure.”

 

They stepped inside, the bell over the door jingling. From behind the counter, a figure turned to face them. It was elephant  _ shaped,  _ but covered with a pelt of thick, shaggy red fur, some of which was matted together with dried ice cream.

 

“Hi, officers! I’m Georgie, welcome to  _ Jumbeaux’s.  _ What can I get for you?” the figure said cheerfully.

 

“Um, a chocolate banana split,” Judy replied, nonplussed.

 

“Two scoops of fudge ripple,” Nick ordered, recovering from his surprise more quickly than she had.

 

While Georgie got their order together, Judy leaned towards Nick and whispered urgently, “I thought mammoths were  _ extinct _ !”

 

“Me too!” he replied.

 

“They are,” Georgie said cheerfully, one large ear twitching in their direction. “These are just hair implants. I got ‘em when I moved to Tundra Town so I could keep warm.”

 

“ _ Ohhhhh, _ ” Judy and Nick said together in relief.

 

“Here you go. That’ll be $6.25.” The elephant handed their orders over, and Judy gave him a tenner.

 

“Keep the change,” she said. “We appreciate the friendly service.”

 

“Oh?” Georgie blinked in realization. “Oh! I’ll bet you’ve been to my Uncle Jerry’s shop in Savannah Central.”

 

“Yes, yes we have,” Nick confirmed.

 

“I could tell.” The shaggy elephant shrugged uncomfortably. “Uncle Jerry has a thing about foxes. And weasels. And raccoons. And mice. And ah... lot of... other mammals.”

 

“We figured that out,” Judy confirmed. “Nice to see it doesn’t run in the family.”

 

Georgie nodded. “There’s a reason  _ why  _ I moved to Tundra Town.”. 

 

“Can’t live with ‘em, can at least move away from ‘em?” Nick asked sympathetically.

 

“You got it.”

 

Mindful of the time, the two officers finished their desserts quickly, then headed back into their cruiser to crank up the heat and get back on patrol.

 

“That was some good ice cream,” Judy said.

 

“And surprisingly good service.” Nick agreed.

 

Judy checked the time on the cruiser’s dashboard. “We’re not getting off shift until 6am. Want to go back there for breakfast after we clock out?”

 

Nick smiled. “I think that’s an  _ excellent  _ idea.”


	5. The Mind Eaters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning. This one is a bit sad.

Judy was just turning the corner into the financial district when she heard Nick cry out, “ _ Aw, no.” _

 

“What’s up?” she asked, starting to slow down.

 

“Giraffe with the sign, on my right.” Nick pointed to an elderly looking giraffe standing on the sidewalk, maybe in his sixties, dressed in ragged looking, faded green fatigue pants and jacket. In his hoof he held up a sign that was about six feet on a side, filled with a dense screed in block printed letters, detailing what appeared to be a conspiracy between banker lemmings, intelligent reptiles on the moon, and “mind eaters”, whatever those were supposed to be.

 

“Central, this is Zoo Adam-12. Investigating protester in front of the Lemming Brothers Building, Financial District,” Judy reported into their cruiser’s radio. She clicked off and asked Nick, “Somebody you know?”

 

“Yeah,” Nick replied grimly. He looked down at his blue blouse in concern. “I wish I wasn’t in uniform. That’s gonna make this a bit harder.”

 

Judy followed as Nick walked up to protester, climbing atop a minivan to be a bit closer to the giraffe’s face. She felt her own nose wiggle as she got a whiff of sweat and less pleasant smells wafting her way, though Nick didn’t seem to notice.

 

“Hey, Joe!” Nick called up to the giraffe. “Joe, buddy, what are you doing here?”   
  


“I’m telling the Truth to people, Nick,” Joe replied. He squinted, focusing on the fox officer, his expression growing alarmed. “Oh, no. No, no! You’re with Them! You’re with the Mind Eaters now!”

 

“Joe,  _ Joe _ , you know me better than that,” Nick said smoothly. “I’m infiltrating. I’m working with Officer Hopps here. You’ve seen her on the news right, stopping the Night Howler people?”

 

“The Night Howlers were a Mind Eater plot,” Joe said earnestly. “They’ve got hundreds of ways of getting into your brain, twisting up your so you won’t think about  _ Them _ . Night Howlers were just one of ‘em! I got it all on my sign!” He waved vaguely at the screed. “It’s all here.”

 

“Joe, what are you doing here?” Nick asked again, his voice growing softer. “Why aren’t you at home with Mary? You have a good thing going with her. She keeps you on track.”

 

“Mary… Mary she passed away six months ago,” Joe said bleakly. He blinked rapidly several times, his eyes growing damp. “The Mind Eaters took her from me. The only good thing I ever had and they took her.”

 

“Oh. Oh, dammit, I’m so sorry, Joe,” Nick said, looking upset. “So you stopped taking your meds, didn’t you?”

 

“Mary was the only thing that made sense, even with my meds,” Joe told him. “Without her… they make everything so  _ gray,  _ Nick! I don’t want to be feeling gray, when I gotta watch out for the Mind Eaters.”   
  


“Oh, Joe. I told you over and over. When you take your meds you don’t have to  _ worry  _ about the Mind Eaters.” Nick reached up and patted Joe’s arm. “I’m gonna your sister, okay? I’ll bet anything she’s worried about you.”

 

“She’s gonna be angry,” Joe started to protest.

 

“Only because you made her worry so much. Come on Joe, please?”

 

The giraffe nodded, looking shamefaced, and Nick pulled out his personal phone and hit a number on his speed dial. “Hey, Annie. It’s Nick, I got Joe here…. Five days, huh? Okay, well it’s okay now,I got him right in front of me. He’s okay, he’s just a bit confused. We’re in front of the Lemming Brothers Building. Can you pick him up? Thanks.”

 

Judy stood quietly with Nick and Joe for about twenty minutes, until a giraffe sized compact slewed over and parked into the closest spot. A female giraffe about Joe’s age came out, her expression distraught. “Joey! Where have you been!” she demanded.

 

“I‘m sorry, Annie,” Joe mumbled.

 

Annie seemed to swallow back on what looked to be the start of a worried rant over his going missing, but settled for, “It’s okay. Just pick your sign up and get in the car.” While he did so, she turned to Nick and Judy. “Thank you, Nick. Thank you, officer. He’s been missing for over a week. I think he ran out of his medication and didn’t get it refilled.”

 

“Are you going to be okay with him, Ma’am?” Judy asked.

 

“Yes, this isn’t.. this isn’t the first this has happened. He’ll be okay. He will,” Annie said, looking like she was trying to convince herself.

 

“I’ll give him a call in a couple of days once he’s settled again,” Nick reassured her.

 

“Thank you.”

 

Judy watched as Annie’s car pulled out into traffic. When she turned back towards Nick, she found her partner resting his forehead on the wall of the bank building, looking exhausted. “Hey, Nick,” she asked in worry. “Are you aright?”

 

He turned around to face her, rubbing his palm over his eyes briefly. “I’ll be okay,” he said.

 

“How did you meet Joe?” Judy asked, leading him back into their cruiser.

 

“We met at a homeless shelter about eight years ago,” Nick said. Not as a volunteer, Judy suspected, but put the thought aside for later. “Joe is a vet, and hadn’t been doing too well after he’d been discharged. The army gave him focus, a way to keep himself steady, and when he lost that… Well, you saw how he is without his medication. So anyway, the social services mammals at the shelter were trying to get him onto some new meds, and he wasn’t having any of that. Except in his more lucid moments he had kind of an eye on Mary, another giraffe that was staying there. And I told him that if he was going to have any chance at all with her, he needed to get cleaned up and start using his medication, and otherwise make himself presentable. Which he actually  _ did,  _ and damn if he wasn’t pretty charming to boot as well, once he was standing steady. So he and Mary started getting along nicely, and the first thing they did when they were both back on their feet was get married.” He smiled wryly. “I even got to attend his wedding at the civil services desk at City Hall.”

 

“Do you think he’s going to be okay?” she asked.

 

Nick rubbed his lips briefly, his eyes distant. “Maybe… with his sister watching him…” He shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know.”

 

“We can check on him together in couple of days, like you said,” Judy tried to reassure him.

 

He shook his head. “Can’t watch him all the time. Can’t save the whole city, Carrots.”

 

She reached over to rest her paw atop his. “I’m going at it one mammal at time, same as you.”

 

Nick nodded, turning up his paw to squeeze her palm. “Thanks, Carrots.”

 

“No problem, Partner.”


	6. Gulpr

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, but this one is a bit, er, tasteless.

_ “Zoo Adam-121 Zoo Adam-12!”  _ Clawhauser’s anxious voice came over the radio, “ _ Predator gone savage, female adult tiger. Address 312 Amazon Drive, Rainforest District! One bunny reported  _ **_eaten_ ** _!” _

  


“Acknowledged, Central!” Judy called back. “Zoo Adam-12 enroute, ETA three minutes!” She hit the accelerator and the cruiser zoomed through traffic, siren blaring.

  


“Dammit,” Nick cursed. “I thought we’d heard the last of Night Howler and Night Hunter!”

  


“Guess not,” Judy replied, slewing around a corner as they entered the Rainforest’s suburban area. Artificial rain was coming down hard, and the roads were slick.

  


“Zoo Adam-12 to Central,” Nick called. “We got SWAT on the way?”

  


_ “They’re about six minutes behind you guys.” _

  


“Okay, we just gotta keep the situation contained until they get here,” Judy decided.

  


Nick twisted around, unlocking the weapons box mounted between their seats. “Pistols, darts, or tasers?” he asked.

  


“Darts,” Judy said firmly. “If it’s a Night Howler victim she isn’t in her right mind, and won’t be at fault.”

  


“A pistol might be kinder, once she snaps out of it and finds out what she did,” Nick replied, slipping his sedative dart pistol into the holster on his belt. “Eaten. God _ damn.” _

  


“Central, Zoo Adam-12 is on scene,” Judy called to Clawhauser, pulling their cruiser up to a small house. It was bunny-sized, compact and built half-buried into the earth. Standing outside was a terrified looking bunny in her forties, dressed in a soaked business suit, with several neighbors of various species, predator and prey, standing on the sidewalk with her.

  


Judy hopped out, her own dart pistol in her paw as she approached the other bunny. “Ma’am, can you tell me what happened?” From the direction of the house she could hear the sound of a large animal thrashing and yowling, and the occasional  _ crunch  _ of smashed furniture.

  


“Our office closed early and I decided to come home and surprise my husband Elliott,” the bunny sobbed. “So I came home, opened the door, and there was this enormous  _ tiger  _ inside, dropping Elliott into her mouth!” She shook her head. “Oh, god. I think he was still alive!”

  


“Ma’am, you stay here with your neighbors. We’re going in,” Judy told her. The other bunny nodded, and an ocelot in a flower print dress stepped up to stand beside her protectively.

  


As they approached the open front door, Nick started to move ahead of her, his mouth opening to say something.

  


“If you try to say ‘Stay behind me, Carrots’ I’ll kick you in your tail,” Judy warned.

  


“Can you blame me?” he muttered. “It hasn’t been  _ that  _ long since Volkov tried to poison Zootopia and have you mauled.”

  


“We’re confronting a tigress,” she countered. “Compared to her, a bunny and a fox are about the same size. So we go in together.”

  


“Right,” Nick agreed reluctantly. They took station on either side of the door. “On three?” he asked.

  


Judy nodded. “One, two,  _ three! _ ”

  


They rushed inside. The tigress was in the living room, laying half-way across a broken coffee table in a fetal position. She was wearing a torn black evening dress, and her arms were wrapped around her stomach as she shuddered and convulsed. When Nick and Judy entered, dart pistols raised, she looked up at them with eyes wide with terror, not glowing with Night Howler rage.

  


“Nnn! Nhgg!” the tigress choked, raising one paw as if to ward them off. Then she bent over double, stomach spasming as a naked male bunny, fur soaked with saliva, popped out from between her jaws, falling to the floor and gasping for breath as he landed in a heap.

  


“What…?” the bunny, presumably Elliott, gasped. “What happened?! I…  _ cough…  _ I didn’t ask you to  _ swallow! _ ”

  


“I’m sorry,” the tigress gasped. “I’m so sorry! She came in the door and I panicked…” She looked up at Judy and Nick desperately. “I swear it isn’t what it looks like!”

  


Elliott, his eyes wide as he saw the two officers, blurted out, “It was consensual, honest!”

  


Judy blinked, staring at them as she set the safety back on her pistol, shoved it into her holster, then drew out her radio to say flatly, “Central, Zoo Adam-12. Situation under control. Please recall the SWAT team.”

  


“ _ Are you sure, Judy? _ ” Clawhauser asked, his voice sounding concerned.

  


“Positive,” she replied. Then Judy very calmly put her radio back, drew in a deliberately breath, and shouted, “ _What_ in the name of St. Francis of Assisi _is_ _going on here?_ ” 

  


“I… I’m so sorry,” Elliott babbled. “Ever since I was a kid I’d had thoughts about it. So last week I heard about the Gulpr app and downloaded it, and that’s where I met Sylvia.” He waved at the tigress, who nodded in agreement.

  


“I’m sorry, what’s a ‘Gulpr’ app?” Judy asked, nonplussed.

  


“It’s an app to help predator and prey hook up for impromptu, ah,  _ gulping  _ sessions,” Nick explained, an  _ appalling  _ grin on his face.

  


Judy’s ears went flat. “You mean they get together… and… so they can.... and the pred opens her mouth… and she  _ swallows… _ ”

  


“Oh, no! You’ve never supposed to swallow!” Sylvia said quickly. “You’re just supposed to pick them up, lick them a bit, and um, put them in your mouth so they can feel like, y’know,  _ prey. _ ”

  


“And mammals do this for  _ fun _ ?” Judy demanded.

  


Nick coughed into his paw, obviously trying not to laugh. “Some even pay for the privilege.” He looked up, eyeing Sylvia speculatively. “Speaking of which.”

  


“Hey!” she replied, outraged. “I never!”

  


“Well, that saves you from one charge,” he said. 

  


“Actually, I don’t think we can charge you with anything, since you both stated it was consensual,” Judy added, somewhat reluctantly. She eyed Elliott. “Sir, I advise you to towel off and get dressed. Then you are  _ both  _ going to come out with us and explain to Elliott’s  _ very upset  _ wife what exactly was going on and why you both almost gave her a heart attack.”

  


“Yes, officer,” Elliott agreed morosely, picking up his clothes and scurrying off the powder room, while Syliva hunched down in embarrassment.

  


“As for me,” Judy whispered to Nick, as his manfully tried to suppress his amusement, “Once we come off shift I’m going to hit the showers for… oh, two or three hours. Then you are going to take me out to a bar and buy me enough grain alcohol to kill every brain cell in my head that might retain a memory of this day.”

  


“Sounds like a plan” Nick agreed. Then he grinned again, “Hey, did you know there’s also an app for mammals that like to get together and…”

  


“Shove it!”

  


“That too…”

  


“Augh!”


	7. The Chase

“How much longer until our shift ends?” Judy asked, yawning widely.

 

Nick blinked, raising his sunglasses to peer owlishly at the clock on cruiser’s dash. “Five more minutes,” he replied.

 

“ _ Yaaaaay… _ ” she muttered wearily. They’d been working almost twenty-four hours, having volunteered for back to back twelve hour duty shifts, due to a bad dockyard fire diverting several other police officers from their usual patrols to handle crowd control and coordination with the fire department. “What are you going to do when we clock out?”

 

“Sleep,” Nick replied flatly. “You?”

 

“Ditto. I was going to soak in the tub first, but I think I’d fall asleep and drown myself.”

 

“Chief Bogo would kill you if you died and left the department short pawed,” Nick noted. He pulled into the left paw turn lane at the intersection, waiting for the light to change so they could head back to Savannah Central.

 

A baby blue hatchback with a wolf at the wheel pulled up to the light, in the lane to the right of their cruiser. The driver spotted a break in the traffic, then peeled out, making an illegal leftpaw turn from the middle lane and just missing their cruiser’s bumper.

 

“Oh, we got a real rocket surgeon today,” Nick noted with a growl. He flipped on their flashers and pulled out behind the hatchback, giving the driver a brief blip with the siren to get his attention.

 

“You’re not kid--  _ Woah! _ ” Judy exclaimed, as the hatchback suddenly accelerated, scooting two lanes across traffic, forcing a black SUV to slam hard on its brakes to avoid hitting the smaller car. As Nick hit the siren again, she grabbed the radio mic and called, “Central, this is Zoo Adam-12. We got a 10-43 on Waterhole Dr. between River Crossing Rd. and the Rt. 3 exit. Suspect is a male wolf driving a blue hot hatch, license number Delta Romeo Claw Eight Seven Eight, currently doing 75, correction,  _ 85 _ in a 35 zone.”

 

“ _ Acknowledge your 10-43 _ ,” Clawhouser called back. “ _ You guys need backup? _ ”

 

“ _ Shiiiiiit! _ ” Nick cursed, as the hatchback ran a red light and barely missed getting hit by a Transit van. The fox officer hit the brakes and went through much more carefully, as traffic stopped for the police cruiser. “Tell him  _ yes, _ we definitely need backup!” He accelerated again, as traffic moved to either side of the road to let the cruiser through, the hatch almost a block and half ahead of them now.

 

“ _ Additional ground units in route. Air support lifting off now.” _

 

“Thanks, Central,” Judy replied. “Suspect now turning left onto…. Oh, cheese and crackers! Subject turned left, repeat  _ left  _ onto Hundred Acre Ave. Now travelling on the shoulder against traffic.”

 

Following procedure, Nick didn’t try to follow the hatchback into the oncoming traffic, but kept going until he could turn left onto the next street over, which was going the correct direction. “Keep an eye on him, Carrots!”

 

“I see him!” Overhead she heard the thump of a ZPD helicopter unit arriving, flying above the buildings, keeping track of the hatch. “Okay, we’re good. He’s not going to outrun the chopper.”

 

Nick eased off the throttle, “Central, is the hatch still on Hundred Acre?”

 

“ _ Confirmed, Zoo Adam-12. Patching in the chopper.” _

 

_ “Ground Units, this is Z-Bird 4,”  _ came the helicopter pilot’s voice over their radio.  _ “Suspect is attempting a U-turn across traffic. Suspect now taking exit onto Rudolph Road, heading into Tundra Town.” _

 

“Thanks, Z-Bird. We’re exiting onto Rudolph, still in pursuit,” Judy reported.

 

_ “Zoo Adam-4 reports they’re at the intersection of Rudolph and Balto, deploying a spike strip,”  _ Clawhouser added.

 

“Got him now,” Nick muttered, as their cruiser entered the tunnel connecting the two neighborhoods. The engine roared in the confines of the tunnel, as the fox officer accelerated again, closing the distance between themselves and the hot hatch. They were only two car lengths behind, and rapidly approaching the roadblock set up by Zoo Adam-4. A bright orange spike strip was already laid out across the road, a five meter long plastic board studded with hundred of hollow spikes, designed to puncture a car’s tires without ripping them apart, giving the driver time to come to a controlled stop.

 

“He’s not slowing down,” Judy noted, as Nick began to apply the brakes so they wouldn’t also cross the strips. She watched as the hatchback crossed the strip and began to wobble on the road as its tires deflated. “What is  _ with  _ this guy?” she asked.

 

“Why do I get the feeling he’s got something fun hidden in the spare wheel well of that thing?” Nick asked in response. He accelerated again as Zoo Adam-4, consisting of Wolfowitz and Francine, pulled the strip out of the way and ran for their own cruiser.

 

The hatchback, still doing at least forty, fishtailed as the last of the rubber tore off and it began running on its rims, sparks flying into the air. Finally the driver lost control, skidding towards the guardrail separating Rudolph from the frozen river running parallel to it. Judy yelped in sympathy as the hot hatch struck the rail, flipping over it and rolling down the snow covered embankment, landing on its roof and sliding out into the middle of the frozen river.

 

Nick braked hard and they both jumped out of the cruiser, running towards the now crushed guardrail, Z-Bird 4 holding steady overhead, staying high enough to avoid stirring up the snow and causing a whiteout. The hatchback lay in the center of a spiderweb of cracks in the ice covering the river, steam coming out of the engine, the front left corner of the car crumpled from where it hit the guardrail.

 

“Sir! Step out of the car!” Nick shouted, as he and Judy slid down the embankment, stopping before they stepped out onto the uncertain strength of the damaged ice. When they saw there was no movement from the car, he shouted again.

 

“I don’t know if that ice is gonna hold, Nick,” Judy said, watching as the cracks began to slowly expand.

 

“You’re about to tell me that you’re lighter than I am, aren’t you?” Nick asked rhetorically.

 

“Yep.” Deciding not to waste time, Judy dropped to all fours and began to slowly crawl towards the hatchback. As she drew closer, she heard the distinct sound of ice cracking underneath her and the overturned car.

 

The wolf was still sitting in the driver’s seat, hanging upside down by his seatbelt, eyes wide and ears folded back in petrified terror. Up close Judy could see that he was a weedy looking kid in his mid-teens, dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt that declared “Chaotic Evil means never having to say you’re sorry.”

 

“Sir, you need to get out of there right now! The ice isn’t going to hold!” Judy called through the open driver’s side window.

 

“It’s my dad’s car,” the boy finally said, his voice trembling in obvious shock. “I can’t… It’s my dad’s car....”

 

“I think your dad is going to care a lot more about you than the car, sir.” She slipped inside through the open window, ignoring Nick’s worried shout from the river’s edge, and hit the release for the kid’s seat belt. He almost dropped on top of her, hitting the crumpled rooftop with his shoulders. “Come on, we gotta get out of here,”Judy urged, the sound of cracking ice increasing in volume. “On your belly, that’s it…”

 

The kid crawled out awkwardly through the window, trying to work around the steering wheel. Finally he got clear of the window and lay flat on his belly on the ice.

 

“Okay,” Judy said calmly. “Now we are going to crawl  _ very slowly  _ over to the shore…”

 

With a deep  _ crack _ the ice underneath them finally gave way, and the car fell through the ice. “Jump on top of it!” Judy cried out, leaping up onto the car’s underside as the ice gave way under her feet. The wolf tried to scramble to his feet, falling against the edge of the car, yowling in pain as he grabbed the hot exhaust pipe, before Judy grabbed the front of his shirt and hauled him up beside her. The car was still sinking, the weight of the engine pulling it nose down as the back end rose into the air.

 

Meanwhile Z-Bird was dropping like a rock out of sky, the side door sliding open. The backwash from its chopper blades almost blew Judy off her feet, but she grabbed the bumper with one paw, and held on tight to the wolf’s with her other. The chopper’s co-pilot, a rangy cheetah she didn’t know, held onto a safety bar inside the helicopter, while reaching out to them with the other. With a heave Judy pulled the wolf up into the cheetah’s grip, just managing to jump into the helicopter as the hatchback’s bumper disappeared under the water.

 

The helicopter hovered into the air over the hole in the ice, the water that filled it looking black, deep, and icy cold. Then it side stepped over to the shore, hovering low to the ground as Judy hopped out again, dragging the trembling wolf along with her, then rose again into the air, turning back to base.

 

“Judy, have I ever mentioned to you that you’re  _ insane? _ ” Nick scolded, as she and the wolf both sat on the edge of the curb. The fox turned his attention to the wolf, “As for  _ you, _ what the hell were you running from for, huh? What was in that car?”

 

“Nothing,  _ nothing!  _ “ the boy exclaimed. “There wasn’t anything in the car. I was just driving to the comics shop. It was just four blocks!”

 

Judy quirked an eyebrow, making a guess at the reasons for his distress, beyond the obvious one of trashing his father’s car. “Let’s see you license,” she asked.

 

If anything the wolf’s expression became more forlorn, and he pulled out his wallet and handed it over. Judy looked it over, and nodded in satisfaction. “This is a learner’s permit, Todd,” she said, noting his name. “You’re only fifteen. You’re not allowed to drive without a supervising adult in the front seat with you.”

 

“It was only four blocks,” Todd mumbled miserably.

 

“And when I blipped the siren at you, you decided to panic,” Nick concluded, sounding a bit more sympathetic. In the distance, the sound of a ambulance, no doubt called in by Wolfowitz and Francine when they dove up and saw the wreck, approached.

 

“Yeah. I’m sorry,” Todd said, ears flat, tail drooping flat on the ground.

 

“Okay, Todd. At minimum you’re going to charged with violating your learner’s permit restrictions, reckless driving, reckless endangerment for putting all the other drivers on the road at risk, and property damage for busting that guardrail,”” Judy informed him. “First though, you’re going to be checked out by the paramedics to make sure you weren’t injured in the crash.”

 

“And then we get to call your dad to pay bail and pick you up,” Nick finished.

 

If possible, Todd’s expression drooped even lower. “Can’t I stay in jail instead?”

 

“Sorry, kiddo.”

 

In due course the ambulance arrived, the paramedics assured themselves that Todd was uninjured aside from where the seat belt had dug into his chest and shoulder, and the poor kid was dutifully handcuffed and stuffed in the back of Wolfowitz and Francine’s cruiser, the two other officers agreeing to process the boy into a holding cell while Judy and Nick finally got to clock out.

 

“I  _ almost  _ feel sorry for the kid. Losing his shot at a license for a couple of years will be one thing. Putting up with the hell his parents are going to give hmi will be a lot worse,” Nick said, as he drove.

 

“Me too,” Judy agreed. “Except for one thing.”

 

“What?”   
  


Judy rolled her eyes. “I was looking forward to getting some sleep when we got off shift, and now I’m flipping  _ wired. _ ”

 

“I suggest dinner and a movie,” Nick offered.

 

“I don’t want to go out.”

 

“Pizza and beer on the couch, while we binge on Netfangs?”

 

She smiled at him. “That I could go for.”

 

“Your wish is my command.”


	8. The Stranger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little odder than usual. A crossover with Meg Syverud's webcomic [Daughter of the Lillies.](http://www.daughterofthelilies.com/dotl/part-1-a-girl-with-no-face)

Judy spotted the female first. Clawhouser’s call hadn’t provided anything more specific than a report of a “Suspicious Character,” and this person fit the bill. Though it was more a case of “Suspicious _Something._ ”

 

“Okay, Carrots. You got a clue what we’re looking at?” Nick asked, squinting over his mirrored sunglasses at the figure sitting alone on a park bench a few yards away.

 

“I’m… not sure,” she replied, ears perked up in curiosity.

 

The figure was female, they could tell that much. She was about five and a half feet tall, and dressed, swaddled almost, in a curious outfit. First was the boots, something usually only worn by construction workers or someone else who had to regularly worry about losing toes in the course of their job. She wore a dark pair pants and a matching shirt, and over the shirt she wore a light grey sleeveless coat with an enveloping hood, and a mask or muffler covering the lower part of her face. Her paws were covered with gloves that even hid her claws, which most mammals found painfully uncomfortable. The total effect was that not an inch of skin was showing, which would make her look scary, if the sitting figure hadn’t been slumped in what looked like either despair or exhaustion, their head almost resting on their knees.

 

“Maybe a cheetah?” Nick ventured. “She’s tall and skinny enough.”

 

“Maybe,” Judy said reluctantly, even as she shook her head in doubt, “One way to find out.”

 

She strode forward, stepping in front of the figure and clearing her throat, “Excuse me, um, ma’am?”

 

The figure looked up. From underneath the hood Judy could see a pair of bright blue eyes with white eyebrows, seeming to hang suspended in an inky darkness blacker than any natural shadow, hiding even the faintest hint of their real features.

 

“Ooooo _kaaay_ then,” Nick said, his sunglasses sliding halfway down his muzzle in sheer surprise.

 

“Oh, hello,” the figure said. It’s voice was female, so quiet and diffident that even Judy had a strain to hear her. “You two are guardsmen… police officers, right?”

 

 _Guardsmen?_ “That’s right. Are you okay, Miss...?” Judy asked.

 

“Thistle, my name is Thistle,” The figure said reluctantly. She shifted on the bench, as if preparing to get up. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be any trouble. I’ll move along.”

 

“No, no, you don’t have to go anywhere,” Judy said, waving her down with both paws. “We just want to make sure you’re alright.”

 

Thistle seemed to hesitate, and then answered reluctantly. “I will be. I’m… kind of lost.”

 

Nick, finally overcoming his surprise, set his sunglasses on his forehead and asked, “Lost? Do you need us to contact anyone for you? Friends… family…?”

 

Thistle visibly flinched at the word _family_ for some reason. “No… no… I can find my way back, it’ll just take a little while to get the components…” She cut herself off. “Don’t mind me. I can get back to my friends.” She shook her head, making a weak chuckle. “I’m sure I’m scaring them to death right now though.”

 

“Thistle, is there anything we can do to help you, anything at all?” Judy asked.

 

Thistle’s shoulders hunched, and she lowered her head again. “No, not really,” she said, so softly that Judy doubted she’d meant to be heard.

 

The bunny officer hopped up onto the bench, then stepped up next to Thistle, reaching around to give the unhappy whatever-she-was a tight hug. Thistle flinched at first, then turned slightly to hug her back, sitting up a little straighter as Judy finally let go.

 

“Why did you do that?” Thistle asked, one gloved hand wiping across her blue eyes.

 

“Because it looked like you really needed one,” Judy answered earnestly. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on with you, and it’s none of my business if you don't want to discuss it. Just don't forget, your friends wouldn’t be worried if they didn’t care about you. Heck, even people who maybe just met you care about you, understand?”

 

“Yes, I know,” Thistle said, sounding a bit more firm. “That is, I _know_ , it’s just…” Her voice trailed off again, and she shrugged.

 

“Ya got a little voice in your head that keeps telling you different, and won’t ever shut up?” Nick asked carefully.

 

Thistle’s eyes narrowed, and she looked Nick over carefully, as if searching for something, and then said, “Not… not like you mean, but similar, yes.”

 

“Yeah, well that voice is a jerk and liar. Don’t forget that,” he told her.

 

“Yes, thank you for reminding me.” Thistle stood up, giving them a little formal bow. “Thank you both.”

 

Judy gave her a friendly salute. “Just doing our job, ma’am!”

 

Thistle’s eyes shifted slightly, and somehow without seeing it Judy knew she was smiling. Saying nothing further, she bowed one last time and turned to head deeper into the park, disappearing behind a stand of trees.

 

“Just when I thought this job couldn’t get any weirder,” Nick said, slipping his sunglasses back down over his eyes.

 

“Yeah,” Judy agreed. “But it was a good kinda weird.”

 

“Think she’ll be alright?”

 

“I think so. So long as she has friends.”


	9. Every. Single. Morning

**5:30 AM**

 

Judy slapped the alarm on her clock radio before it could go off and hopped out of bed. Twenty minutes later she was showered, dressed, and ready for a brand new day.

 

Nick, as usual, was not .

 

She rapped sharply on his door, then listened at he rolled out of bed, shuffled over to the door, unlatched and unlocked all the chains and bolts holding it shut, and then cracked it open to look down at her blearily. A nocturnal mammal at heart, Nick was not a morning person.

 

“Ready for a brand new day, partner?” Judy asked chirpily. Nick nodded reluctantly, raised his finger in his usual  _ gimme a second  _ gesture, and padded back into his bedroom to pull on clothes and rub deodorant on his scent glands, while she waited patiently in his tiny living room. 

 

It wasn’t until Nick had taken his first pull of coffee from his automatic brewer before he attempted to speak. “Anyone every tell you that you’re obnoxiously cheerful at this hour?” he asked. Dressed and mostly conscious, his shirt tail was still hanging out and his tie hung loosely around his neck. 

 

“You, every single morning we’re on duty,” she replied, Judy shook her head and dragged a chair from the kitchenette and stood on, tucking in Nick’s shirt and then pulling his tie tight and making sure the knot was centered. “And why is it you can never get dressed without me straightening out your tie? Don’t you know how to knot it?”

 

“Yeah, pull it tight and make sure it’s centered over my Adam’s Apple,” Nick replied, a little indignant.

 

“No, I mean actually  _ tying  _ the knot,” she corrected, snugging it firmly and stepping off the chair. When he failed to answer immediately, she added, “You do know how to tie it right? I mean I’m a girl and I had to learn.”

 

“Er, no,” he admitted sheepishly.

 

“How could you not know how?” Judy asked in surprise, as he closed his apartment door and they headed downstairs. “You wore a tie every time I saw you when you were a civilian.”

 

“Well, yeah,” Nick replied. “But when I went to bed I just loosened it and pulled it off my neck. I never actually unknotted it. If I ever did to dry clean it or something, I had to have Finnick reknot it for me.”

 

Judy frowned. “That’s… actually kinda sad, really. OK, tonight I’ll teach you how to do it.”

 

Nick shrugged. “No, need. I just loosen it and…”

 

“I’m  _ going  _ to teach you how to do it yourself.”

 

“Yes, ma’am.”

 


	10. That Awkward Moment

_“Zoo Adam-12, missing cub reported in Prairie Park. Assistance in the search requested,“_ Clawhouser called out over the radio.

 

“Acknowledged, Central. Zoo Adam-12 is inbound. ETA five minutes,” Judy called back, as Nick flicked the cruiser’s lights on and made a U-turn at the intersection. “Any details?” she asked.

 

_“ Missing cub is reportedly an eight year old llama, tan pelt, gold eyes. Guardian will be waiting at the entrance to the park.”_

 

“Got it, thanks Clawhauser.”

 

“How do you lose a llama?” Nick wondered, as they pulled up the curb near the park entrance. “They’ve got necks longer than your ears.”

 

“Easy enough in the prairie grass, I guess,” Judy replied. She set the parking brake and hopped out, Nick following as he slipped his sunglasses over his eyes. Near the stone arch marking the entrance was a gathering of about a dozen Junior Ranger Scouts, surrounding an adult male zebra in a scoutmaster uniform.

 

The zebra waved at them eagerly as they approached. “Officers, I’m glad you’re here,” he said. “We were doing a survey of grasses and wildflowers in the park, and Lionel wandered off from the group. I’ve tried calling his phone but I keep getting shunted to his voice mail.”

 

“How long ago did you notice he was missing?” Nick asked.

 

“About fifteen minutes ago,” the zebra replied. He pulled out his phone from his pocket, opening up the camera app. “Here’s his picture.” The image of a young llama matching the description Clawhouser had given them appeared on the screen, dressed in a Ranger Scout uniform, and with a very bored expression on his face.

 

“Pass that over to our phones and we’ll start looking for him,” Judy requested. As she and Nick pulled out their own phones to link with the scoutmaster’s briefly, she added, “Where were you when you noticed he was missing?”

 

“We were in the northeast section of the park, near the thimbleweed section of the gardens.”

 

“Thank you,” Judy replied. “We’ll start searching there. Why don’t you send your other scouts in teams of three to cover the other entrances to the park, so Lionel will be seen if he tries to leave.”

 

The scoutmaster looked uncomfortable for a moment, “Good idea, but do you think you’ll be able to spot him in these tall grasses? You’re both kinda.... undertall.”

 

Nick grinned at him, “We’ll be resourceful,” he replied.

 

They headed off through the stone paths that curved through the displays of tall prairie grass and wildflowers, the tips of the grasses well over Nick’s ears. Judy hopped on Nick’s shoulders as they walked, looking around for the missing scout.

 

“You okay, Nick?” she asked, turning her head back and forth, trying to spot a long necked child in the grass.

 

“Sure, why wouldn’t I be?” he replied.

 

“You’re not bothered by interacting with Ranger Scouts?”

 

“They’re _kids_ , Judy. I’m an adult now. I’ve got bigger problems to worry about,” Nick said firmly. He craned his neck as they reached the wildflower display. “No little llamas about, and we’re never going to find him in all this tall grass without a ladder.”

 

“Who needs a ladder, when I’ve got you to boost off of?” Judy asked. She grinned and got her feet underneath her, standing on Nick’s shoulders briefly before jumping up high into the air. She came down into a three point landing, crouching low with her right palm on the ground.

 

“Very Iron Mammal-esque touchdown, Carrots,” Nick complimented. “You spot our boy?”

 

“He’s already outside the park and across the street,” she reported.

 

“Figures. Lead the way!”

 

They found Lionel outside a comic book shop, munching on a paper tray filled with fish and chips, while reading through an issue of _The Fantastic Fur_.

 

“Hey there, kiddo,” Nick greeted. “Why did you wander off? You’ve got your scoutmaster worried about you.”

 

“It was getting boring,” the young llama said resentfully. “I thought we were going to the train museum today.”

 

“Well, you made it a little too exciting for your group, I’m afraid,” Judy told him. “Come on, let’s get you back to your pack.”

 

Together they guided the reluctant Lionel back to the waiting scoutmaster, who gave the boy a glare before leaning down to shake Judy and Nick’s paws. “Thanks a lot, officers. Could I get your names so I can email a thank you to your chief?”

 

“Sure,” Nick replied. “My partner is Officer Judy Hopps, you probably remember her from the Night Howler incident last year. I’m Officer Nick Wilde.”

 

The adult zebra froze briefly in surprise. “Uh, did you say your name was Nick _Wilde_?”

 

“Yep.” Nick lifted up his sunglasses, revealing his green eyes. “Hi, Marty. Thought I recognized you.”

 

“Uh, hi,” Marty said weakly. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “You’re… looking good these days. The uniform suits you.”

 

“Who’s your friend, Nick?” Judy asked, ears perked up in curiosity.

 

“This is Marty. He was in Junior Ranger Scout Pack 914 back in my old elementary school,” Nick explained, the cheerful smile never leaving his face.

 

“Oh? Oh! _That_ pack,” Judy said, realizing who this fellow had to be, her right foot starting to rapidly tap on the ground as she glared at the adult zebra.

 

“Oh, you told her about…” Marty cleared his throat again and ran his hoof through his mane nervously. “Wow, this is awkward.”

 

“Are you and Officer Wilde friends, Scoutmaster?” one of the smaller scouts asked.

 

“I thought we were,” Nick told the scout, his smile never wavering. “Then my mom transferred me to another school, and we kinda lost track of each other.”

 

“Hey, um, what can I say, Nick?” Marty said into the silence that followed.

 

 _How about “I’m sorry”?_ Judy thought fiercely. _You wouldn’t believe how much it would help._

 

“Not much, I guess,” Nick replied evenly, palpably refusing to let Marty off the hook for his actions as a colt.

 

“Um, look Nick. In my defense, I was just eleven,” Marty said, eyes cast downward.

 

“I was _eight,_ ” Nick said, his voice turning sharp for the first time.

 

“Yeah, yeah you were,” Marty admitted. He cleared his throat yet again. “Look, I gotta get the cubs back home. Um, thanks for the help finding Lionel.”

 

“Just doing my job,” Nick replied. “See ya around.”

 

They were back in the cruiser and the scout pack disappeared around the corner, before Nick let his smile drop and closed his eyes, leaning his head back against his seat.

 

“You sure you’re okay, Nick?” Judy asked cautiously.

 

“I’m okay.” Nick turned his head to face her, smiling again, if somewhat lopsidedly. “If I let myself stay mad at everybody who ever did me a wrong, well I’d be mad pretty much all the time. A guy can’t live like that.”

 

“I guess not,” Judy could only agree, remembering how angry she used to feel about Gideon Grey back in Bunnyburrow, before they met again as adults. She just wished Nick’s reunion with his old tormentor had gone as well as her’s had.

 

“I won’t say the experience back when I was a cub made me the mammal I am today. More like sent me on a twenty year detour,” Nick said with a shrug. “But in the end they were just stupid kids.”

 

Judy frowned. “Stupid kids that _hurt you._ ”

 

“Yeah, but I learned to _let it go,_ ” he began to croon, “Let it _go!_ ”

 

“Oh, no! No singing, Nick!” she pleaded.

 

“Hey, now that we’ve got each other, _you’ve never had a friend like me!”_ he teased.

 

“ _Augh!”_

 

He kept singing Disney tunes until they got back to the station...

 


	11. Christmas Break

**December 24th, 9 PM**

 

“Hey Judy! Hey Nick! Merry Christmas!” Clawhauser called from his desk as they entered the station house. He was busy packing up his personal effects as he prepared to go off duty, Wolfowitz standing near to take over dispatcher duties.

 

“Merry Christmas,” Judy said flatly, ears drooping.

 

Clawhauser cocked his head in concern. “Aw, what’s the matter?”

 

“She’s not feeling the Christmas spirit today,” Nick offered, grinning slightly.

 

“ _ Ohhh…”  _ Clawhauser said. “First Christmas shift ever?”

 

“First Christmas away from home ever,” Judy replied. She sighed deeply. “I know we have to have the same number of officers on duty as any other shift, and Nick and I are the lowest mammals on the seniority list, but…”

 

“Hey, it won’t be so bad!” Clawhauser reassured her. “Aside from the domestic disturbance calls, cubs breaking their arms falling off their first bicycles, Christmas trees catching fire…”

 

“Yeah, aside from that,” Nick interrupted gently. “You have a Merry Christmas, Clawhauser.”

 

“You too, you two!” he replied, and headed out the front doors, humming  _ Jungle Bells _ cheerfully.

 

“I am so trying not to be a complete Scrooge about this,” Judy said, as they entered the locker room and started kitting out for their shift. “I’m glad your mom was so nice to cook us dinner this afternoon.” That had managed to jolly her out of her mood for a while at least, his mom serving them spiced carrots and pumpkin pie for dinner in her warm, cosy apartment.

 

“Wouldn’t be the first Christmas I was away from home,” he admitted. “Mind you, I didn’t spend eighteen hours working, back in my hustling days.”

 

“I’ll admit that I’m not missing a couple of things. Try getting a hundred of your younger siblings to go to bed, when they’re all eager to see Santa Claws,” Judy noted.

 

Nick chuckled briefly, then looked more thoughtful. “How do you handle Christmas back on the farm anyway? I mean, your folks do okay, but they aren’t rich. How do they afford presents for two hundred and fifty bunnies?”

 

“The kits are encouraged to give presents to each other,” she replied. “Mom and Dad usually get two or three big items that most of the kits can use, like playground equipment for the backyard or a new PreyStation. They like to give rather than receive.”

 

“Makes sense,” Nick agreed. “I guess it also spares them from getting a hundred and fifty homemade ashtrays, or whatever, every holiday.”

 

“That’s true,” Judy admitted, grinning wryly. “Though last year they got kinda blindsided by that homemade slime craze.”

 

A smile began creeping on Nick’s face. “How much did they get?”

 

“I think they worked it out to fifteen  _ gallons _ ,” Judy answered.

 

Nick covered his muzzle with his paw, trying not to laugh too loudly. “I can just see  that!” he chortled.

 

“When they gave you something personal, just for you, you knew it was because you’d done something  _ really  _ special.” The thought made Judy frown again, thinking of the anti-fox gear her parents had tried to foist on her when she first left for Zootopia, after graduating from the police academy. Though it had been more of expression of their anxiety than a reward for Judy’s accomplishments.

 

They checked out their usual cruiser and pulled out from the station’s motor pool, onto the streets of Savannah Central. Though it was cold, there was no snow predicted for this evening, except for the usual climate maintained over in Tundra Town. 

 

They received their first call within fifteen minutes. 

 

_ “Zoo Adam-12, domestic disturbance, Grand Pangolin Arms,”  _ Wolfowitz reported.

 

“Acknowledged, Central. Zoo Adam-12 inbound, ETA seven minutes,” Judy called back. Then she ground her incisors together briefly and muttered, “Bucky…”

 

“And Pronk,” Nick finished, looking equally annoyed. “Nice to know they’re predictable at least.”

 

“Yep,” she agreed.

 

When they reached their apartment building, Judy marched up the stairs to Bucky and Pronk’s apartment, giving their apartment door a sharp rap with her paw. “Police! Open up!” she called.

 

“Now isn’t a good time!” they heard Bucky call back through the closed door.

 

“When is it ever with you two?” Nick replied. “You both know the drill by now. Open the door guys, so we can get this over with.”

 

In a moment they heard the door being unlatched, and Bucky stuck his head out, antlers barely missing the top of the door frame. “You may as well come in. Maybe  _ you  _ can knock some sense into him.”

 

Judy stepped inside, to find that Pronk was propped up with pillows on the small apartment’s couch, two quilts and an afghan drawn all the way up to his chin, an empty waste bin sitting beside him. He looked blearily when they entered, moaning, “Oh, look what you  _ did _ , Bucky. This is just  _ perfect _ .”

 

“It’s Christmas Eve, he’s sick, and you two are  _ still  _ arguing?” she asked in disbelief.

 

“I’m not arguing, I’m  _ telling him _ that he’s being  _ stupid, _ ” Bucky said irritably.

 

“We’ve  _ got to  _ get over to my parent’s house. I  _ promised  _ them we would!” Pronk wailed.

 

“You’re running a fever of a hundred and two and you’ve been puking since mid-afternoon,” Bucky said. “You’re in no shape to do anything except lay on the couch and drink fluids.”

 

“I gotta admit I’m with Bucky on this one,” Nick intejected. “I think your parents would understand.”

 

“No,  _ you _ don’t understand,” Pronk said. “My mom and dad are finally talking to me again, after Bucky and I married two years ago. They  _ invited _ Bucky and I to come over for Christmas.  _ Together! _ I can’t just blow them off!”

 

Judy blinked, some of the arguments she’d heard through the thin apartment walls now making a great deal more sense in context, especially the tension that always ran between the two prey. “Have you called your parents yet to tell them what’s happening?” she asked

 

“No.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Um, because we were too busy arguing?” Bucky said, looking sheepish.

 

“Why don’t you try calling them?” Judy suggested. “You might be surprised.”

 

Pronk moaned again, but for once didn’t argue as Bucky found his mobile and handed it to the pronghorn. They waited as the phone dialed, and Pronk croaked, “Hi Mom, how are you doing? Yeah, I know I sound awful, but we’re still coming… Well yeah, a hundred and two, and my stomach has been… No, I’m sure I’ll be okay by tomor… But I thought you wanted… Okay, okay. I’ll drink more water and rest. Love you.”

 

“Told you she’d understand,” Bucky said smugly, as Pronk hung up.

 

“She said she and Dad will come over here tomorrow instead to open presents,” Pronk reported. “They’ll bring breakfast.”

 

“ _ Breakfast? _ ” Bucky exclaimed. “When are they coming over?”

 

“6 am.”

 

“Oh, that’s just _great_. Now I have to take care of you _and_ clean up before they arrive!”

 

“I can help…”

 

“You stay right there on that couch, moron!”

 

Judy and Nick backpedaled out of the apartment and shut the door quietly, as Bucky began noisily washing dishes in the kitchen.

 

“Love can be weird,” Nick noted.

 

“Yep,” Judy agreed. They both turned as their landlady toddled up the hall towards them, a plate of sugar molasses cookies in her hooves. “Oh, hi Mrs. Dharma,” she greeted.

 

“I am sorry about calling you for Buck and Pronk,” she said. “They were being more stupid than loud this time.”

 

“Not a problem,” she reassured the elderly armadillo. 

 

“Even so I appreciate it.” Mrs. Dharma held the plate out. “Have a cookie before you go.”

 

“Oh, sorry,” Judy said. “We’re not permitted to accept food when we’re on…” Her denial withered as Mrs. Dharma stared at them sternly. “Okay, just one,” she corrected. She grabbed a single cookie and popped it into her mouth, letting out an appreciative noise as the sugar melted in her mouth. “Okay, maybe one more...”

 

“Hey, don’t leave me out,” Nick objected, grabbing a couple for himself before they were finally able to say their goodbyes and get back on patrol. 

 

They’d dealt with two drunk drivers, a speeder, and  a noise complaint about over enthusiastic revelers, when their next serious call came at 11:50pm.

 

_ “Zoo Adam-12, report of a wolf cub trapped on the roof of a house in Tundra Town,”  _ Wolfowitz called.  _ “Fire and Rescue are on their way, but you’re closer to the scene.” _

 

“On our way, Central,” Judy called back. “What’s a cub doing on a roof?” she wondered, hitting the lights and accelerating onto the expressway into Tundra Town.

 

“It’s Christmas Eve, you have to guess?” Nick said.

 

“Good point.”

 

When they arrived, they found the cub’s parents standing anxiously outside a two-storey split-level with a snow covered roof, as their son hung on for dear life to the chimney.

 

“What are you doing here, officers?” the mom asked anxiously. “I called for the fire department!”

 

“They’re coming, but we were closer and we wanted to see what we can do,” Judy replied. “Do you have a ladder in the garage we can use?”

 

“I loaned it to my brother across town so he could set up his Christmas lights,” the father replied. He ran his paw over his ears agitatedly. “We told him Santa was coming! What’s he doing up there?”

 

“What’s your son’s name?” Nick asked.

 

“Billy,” the mother answered.

 

“Thank you,” Judy replied. She cupped her paws over her mouth and called up, “Billy! This is Officer Judy! You okay up there?!”

 

“I wanna come down!” Billy called back. “My fingers are really cold and it’s hard to hang on!”

 

“Don’t worry, Billy! The fire department is coming!” Judy grabbed her radio and called, “Central, we’re on scene. What’s the ETA on that fire truck?”

 

_ “Their ladder truck had a breakdown along the way,”  _ Wolfowitz reported.  _ “Fire and Rescue are diverting another one from Savannah Central, but it’s going to be about ten minutes.” _

 

“I’m not sure we’ve got that long.” Judy went over to the father. “I want you to start knocking on your neighbor’s doors. See if anyone has a ladder we can borrow.”

 

“Right!” The father ran off.

 

“Judy, gimme your tie,” Nick asked, as he began unknotting his own.

 

“Why? Oh, good thinking!” Judy said, pulling her own off quickly and handing it over.

 

“What are you doing?” the mother asked.

 

“I’m going to climb up your drain spout,” Nick said, as he started knotting the two ties together into a makeshift harness. “If I can secure Billy’s perch the chimney, he should be okay until that ladder truck gets here.”

 

“Are you sure you can make it up there?” the mother asked anxiously.

 

“Used to do it all the time before I became a cop,” Nick reassured her, then muttered more quietly to Judy, “In Sahara Square, up dry spouts, in the sunshine.”

 

“Just be careful,” Judy told him. “I don’t want to get out of this shift because you fell and broke your tail.”

 

“Righto, partner.” He gave her a mock salute, hung the two neck ties over his shoulders, and started clambering up the drain pipe, much more slowly and carefully than when she’d watched him run his pawpsicle scheme in Sahara Square.

 

She nibbled on her lip in worry as Nick finally scrambled onto the ice covered roof, crawling on all fours towards where Billy clung to the brick chimmey.

 

“Hey, kiddo. What are you doing up here?” Nick called to Billy as he moved closer to the cub.

 

“I-I wanted to see Santa Claws!” Billy cried out.

 

“Aw, you know that isn’t how it works,” Nick replied cheerfully. “You have to go see him at the mall. Christmas Eve he’s  _ way  _ too busy to stop and chat.” He crawled forward a few more inches, putting each paw down with care, testing his footing.

 

“I’m suh-sorry!”

 

“It’s gonna be okay,” Nick reassured him. “Just stay pu-. No! No! Don’t reach out!”

 

Billy reached towards Nick with his left paw, his right gripping the chimney. With a cry the little cub lost his grip and began sliding down the icy roof. Nick grabbed the ruff of Billy’s neck as he began to pass the fox officer, his foot claws scrabbling for purchase on the ice as he began to slide with the cub.

 

As they began to slide over the edge of the roof Nick shoved his left foot into the roof’s gutter, stopping them abruptly.

 

“Well, that was fun, wasn’t it?” Nick asked brightly, wrapping both arms around Billy to hold him securely. He called down to Judy. “How are we doing on that ladder?”

 

“It’s coming!” she called back, glancing across the street, where Billy’s father approached with the ladder, a tiger in bathrobe holding the other end.

 

“Tell ‘em to hurry it’s.. a little chilly up here.” 

 

Judy bit her lip, seeing the real reason for Nick’s worry, as the aluminum gutter bent against Nick and Billy’s combined weight, where his foot pads pressed against it.

 

“Get that ladder up,” she urged the father. “Hurry!”

 

The wolf set the ladder underneath Nick and Billy, clambering up it quickly, taking his son into his arms as Nick handed the cub over. Then Nick stepped onto the top rung, climbing down carefully on his toes, his pads bleeding where the edge of the gutter had dug in.

 

“Looks like I got us out of patrolling after all,” he joked, sitting down in the snow.

 

“Not funny, Nick,” Judy said, grabbing the first aid kit from the truck of their cruiser.

 

“Billy…” the father began to say, then stopped, apparently unable to find enough words to express how angry and afraid he’d been. Instead he settled for, “That officer was hurt helping you. You need to apologize to him.”

 

Billy, who looked close to bawling at this point, gulped and nodded. “Officer, I’m suh-suh-sorry….”

 

“Hey, hey, it’s alright.” Nick reached out and took Billy into a hug, and Judy joined them. “In a very weird sort of way, you did us a favor.”

 

“I’m on the Naughty List now, aren’t I?” Billy snuffed.

 

“Oh, I don’t think so,” Judy said. “You should see my mom and dad’s house this time of year. My big brothers and sisters have to patrol the hallways all night to make sure none of the younger kits try what you did.” That was enough to bring a smile to the cub’s lips, and she handed him back to his parents, after they heaped profuse thanks on her and Nick. “Central, this is Zoo Adam-12,” she called into her radio. “You can call off the ladder truck. Child is off the roof and safe. However Officer Wilde received minor injuries rescuing him. We don’t need an ambulance, but he’s going to have to go off duty. I can finish up the shift by myself.”

 

“Can’t have you do that, Carrots,” Nick protested, wincing as she rubbed an alcohol wipe over his cuts and started bandaging them. “I can at least stay in the cruiser with you.”

 

“Don’t be a silly fox, Nick.” She smiled at him, then checked her watch. “It’s ten after Midnight. Think of this as my Christmas present to you.”

 

“ _ Zoo Adam-12, request denied,”  _ Wolfowitz said.  _ “Zoo Adam-1 needs you at Jumbeaux’s 24 Hour Cafe ASAP.” _

 

“Zoo Adam-1?” Judy said in surprise. “What’s the Chief doing on duty tonight?”

 

_ “You’ll have to ask him,”  _ Wolfowitz replied.

 

As they drove through the Tundra Town streets to the cafe, Nick asked, “You were kidding about having to patrol the hallways for Santa spotters, right?”

 

“Nope,” Judy replied. “Not my favorite job when I was a teenager, believe me.”

 

They reached the cafe and went inside, Nick leaning on Judy for support as he walked on his toes, and waved to Georgie the proprietor. A nephew of Jerry Jumbeaux, the proprietor of the original  _ Jumbeaux’s  _ in Savannah Central, he was a much more open minded mammal, not to mention covered in red yak hair implants to protect him from Tundra Town’s perpetual cold.

 

Chief Bogo was waiting in a corner booth, a plate of salad in front of him. He looked at Nick’s wounded paw pads in annoyance as they approached. “What are you still doing on duty if you’re injured?  _ How  _ did you get injured?”

 

“I thought I’d let Officer Hopps chauffer me the rest of the shift, Chief,” Nick replied with a grin. “Had a little argument with a gutter while I was rescuing someone’s cub off a roof.”

 

“I was about to drive him back when you called for us,” Judy added. “What’s up, Chief? What are you doing on duty?”

 

“I’m always on duty Christmas Day,” Bogo told them.

 

“Why?”

 

The big water buffalo shrugged. “If I’m on patrol, that means two of my officers can be off and enjoy the holiday.”

 

Nick cocked his head in surprise. “Don’t you want it off sometimes?”

 

“Not really. All my family is in Johannesburg anyway. It’s already Christmas morning over there.”

 

“Oh,” Judy said. “What can we do to help you, Chief?”

 

“Eat, and listen,” he ordered, as Georgie delivered their food. When they began eating he continued. “I didn’t like you much when you first joined the force, Hopps.”

 

“Oh, I remember,” Judy said, ears blushing.

 

“You were stuck in my precinct because of Mayor Lionheart’s Mammal Inclusion Initiative, you were both naive and  _ obnoxiously  _ cocksure, and you were disrespectful of my authority.” His gaze turned to Nick. “You on the other hand, were the oldest rookie I’ve ever seen in my years on the force, had a very questionable civilian background, and  _ started  _ your first briefing by snarking at me. I thought you were both far too much trouble to have around.”

 

Nick raised a finger in mock protest. “But you  _ did  _ think about us!”

 

“Shut up, Wilde.”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“In your defense Chief, I really  _ was  _ naive and obnoxious back then,” Judy admitted.

 

“And ignorant,” Nick added.

 

“And ignorant.”

 

“And irresponsible.”

 

“And irresponsible.”

 

“And small minded.”

 

_ “Nick...” _

 

“Sorry.”

 

“And your fox friend was a terrible cynic,” Bogo added. “You’re not supposed to be cynical as a recruit. That’s only supposed to happen after being on the force for a couple of years.”

 

“Well, I’ve always been ahead of the curve, sir,” Nick said modestly.

 

“My point is, you proved me  _ wrong _ . That doesn’t happen very often,” Bogo concluded. “The two of you have grown into fine officers. I”m proud to have you on the force.” He waited a moment as the silence grew, then added, “Nothing to say?”

 

“Er, sorry Chief,”: Judy said. “We’re just not used to you offering, um…”

 

“Unsolicited praise?”

 

“Yeah,” she admitted, ears blushing.

 

Bogo sipped his coffee. “It’s Christmas. Don’t expect it to happen again soon.”

 

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Chief,” Nick said. His usual half-lidded smile brightened, and he held out his paw to the Chief. “Merry Christmas, sir.”

 

“Merry Christmas,” Bogo replied, shaking. “Now here’s your present. You’re both off duty until tomorrow. Enjoy your day off, or just sleep, I don’t care which.”

 

“Thank you, Chief!” Judy said, standing up to give him a hug.

 

Bogo glowered at her. “And remind me to give you the lecture about public displays of affection when you get back.”

 

Judy grinned up at him. “Sorry, sir,” she said, entirely unrepentant. “Merry Christmas.”

 

“Bah, humbug.”


	12. Scenes From a Stakeout

**1500 hours, Footrot Flats (“Luxury apartments at fair dinkum prices.”), Apartment 4C**

 

“There’s something deeply weird about staking out the building you live in,” Nick noted, as he watched Judy fiddle with the parabolic microphone mounted next to the open window.

 

“Well, if we can catch those two raccoons completing their drug deal, it’ll be worth it just to clean them out of the building,” she replied, as she finished double checking that it was aimed at the window of the apartment directly across from them, in the Pangolin Arms.

 

“How dumb do you have to be to run deals in a building, when you _know_ there are two cops living there too?” he wondered.

 

“How many dumb criminals have we met?” Judy asked, settling down onto a folding chair. Next to her was a laptop hooked into the microphone, recording everything that would be said across the street. It was even sensitive enough to “hear” conversations from the vibrations of the window, if it was closed.

 

“That’s a point,” Nick agreed. He pulled out his radio from his pocket. “Central, this is Stakeout Four. We’re starting our shift.”

 

“ _Roger, Stakeout Four. Have a fun evening!”_ Clawhouser called back.

 

“Staring at an apartment building for twelve hours straight. Oh, it’s gonna be a barrel of laughs,” Nick replied. “Stakeout Four out.”

 

“We might get lucky and get something right away,” Judy said. “Anyway, where’s your sense of drama? Listening in covertly to hardened criminals making nefarious deals…”

 

“Listening to two not very bright mammals argue about what kind of pizza to order....”

 

“Oh, come one. It beats sitting in a patrol car for the same amount of time.”

 

“In a patrol car we’re doing things,” Nick countered. He waved his paw briefly in dismissal. “Eh, let’s get started.”

  


**1650 hours.**

 

“So I’m think about going on a cruise to Cape Suzette.”

 

Judy twitched an ear towards Nick as she continued to watch the readout on the laptop. “How are you supposed to afford a cruise on your salary?”

 

“I’d get it for free.”

 

“Come again?”

 

He grinned at her. “C’mon, haven’t you seen those ads from real estate companies, offering a free cruise in return for listening to their pitch for a timeshare?”

 

“ _Yech_ , that’s the _worst,_ ” she declared, glancing back at him. “Who wants to have their vacation interrupted so they can spend a day locked in a room and forced to endure a hard sell to buy something they don’t need and can’t afford?”

 

“Ah, but they’d be pitching to _me_ , remember? You can’t scam an old scam artist, Fluff.”

 

“Oh? Oh!” She smiled back at him. “I’d like to see that.”

 

“Well, these cruises are generally for two.”

 

“Well, yeah.” Judy felt her ears heat slightly, so she decided to change the subject. “I’m a little surprised you never went for that yourself, selling timeshares or whatever.”

 

Nick rolled his eyes her. “Give me some credit, Judy. I may have been a scam artist, but I did have _ethics._ ”

  


**1815 hours**

 

“ _I want extra cheese._ ”

 

“ _And I want the pineapple topping.”_

 

“ _Pineapple on pizza is gross._ ”

 

“ _So’s extra cheese!”_

 

“Kill. Me. Now _._ ” Judy intoned flatly, turning down the volume on the laptop.

 

“Told you it was going to be boring,” Nick said.

 

“You were right.”

 

He tapped his holster briefly. “If it gets to be too much, I can always dart you so you could take a nap.”

 

“Don’t tempt me. Anyway, we’ve only got eight hours to go.”

 

“Eight hours, forty-five minutes,” Nick corrected.

 

“I hate you so much.”

  


**2020 hours**

 

“ _A still more glorious dawn awaits, not a sunrise, but a galaxy-rise…”_ Judy heard Nick sing from the direction of the kitchen, as he fixed two coffees.

 

“That’s a pretty song,” she said, as he came back and handed her a cup. “Who’s the artist?”

 

“It’s not exactly a song,” Nick said, settling down on the couch. “Somebody autotuned a bunch of dialog from _Cosmos_ and set it to music a few years back.”

 

“ _Cosmos?_ What’s that?”

 

Nick frowned, his left ear rotated in momentary confusion. “Y’know, **_Cosmos_ ** _._ Carl Sergal in his Spaceship of the Imagination saying, ‘Billions and _billions_ of years ago…’” As she continued to stare him blankly, he asked, “You honestly have no idea what I’m talking about?”

 

“It was a kids show?” she guessed.

 

He threw up his paws in the air, coffee slurping over the edge of his cup. “It’s was the biggest science show from the 80’s! I watched it a million times when I was a kit! How could you have not seen it?”

 

“I was born in ‘91, Nick,” she reminded him. “I got my science from _The Magic School Bus._ ”

 

“It’s not like they didn’t have reruns…” Nick sighed, set his coffee down, and went back to the kitchen grab some paper towels. “Next thing you’re gonna tell me is that you don’t like MMT3k.”

 

“What?”

 

“ _Mystery Mammal Theater 3000,_ ” he said in exasperation.

 

“Oh, that show with the muskrat and the two robots watching old movies?” she asked.

 

“Yes, thank you. You making me worried there for a second, Carrots,” Nick said, tossing the wet towels in the garbage and sipping his coffee.

 

“Yeah, I never watched it,” Judy admitted. “It looked pretty stupid.”

 

She ducked down as Nick snorted hot coffee from his snout. “You don’t _like_ MMT3k? How could you _not like_ MMT3k?”

 

“Oh, come on!” she said. “Who wants to watch a movie with a bunch of people talking over it making dumb jokes?”

 

“You have _no soul,_ Carrots,” Nick declared.

  


**2132 hours**

 

“What are they talking about now?” Judy asked Nick, as he took his turn at the laptop.

 

“They’re arguing about the wire,” he reported, tapping his claws on the folding table.

 

“That was a good show.”

 

Nick shook his head. “No, an actual wire that’s hanging from the ceiling apparently.”

 

“Oh, _God,_ ” Judy groaned

 

“If I come out this with my sanity intact, I’ll hit Mrs. Dharma with a fire hazard citation.”

 

“I’ll be right there with you.”

  


**2348 hours**

 

Nick stretched his fingers out, staring at them intently.

 

“What?” Judy prompted.

 

“Why do we have a base ten numbering system, when almost all mammals have eight digits on their paws?” he asked.

 

“I honestly have no idea,” she admitted. “You waste your time worrying about stuff like that?”

 

“Thinking, not worrying,” he said. “I _worry_ about stuff like ice cream.”

 

She leaned her ears towards him. “What about ice cream?”

 

“Well,” Nick said, frowning. “Where does the milk come from to make it?”

 

“I… don’t know,” Judy admitted. She and Nick stared at each other for a moment.

 

“Let’s never speak of this again.”

 

“Agreed.”

  


**0040 hours**

 

“Francine?” Judy prompted.

 

“Pass,” Nick replied. “Wolfard?”

 

“Mmm, Date, I  think. Fangmeyer?”

 

“Date. Grizoli?”

 

“Pass.” Judy grinned at him. “Clawhouser?” she teased.

 

“Fuck,” Nick said.

 

She blinked. “What, seriously?”

 

“Well, I mean I don’t swing that way, but he’s got a certain Big Beautiful Mammal charm to him, wouldn’t you agree?”

 

“I guess. I always just looked him and thought he was…” Judy pressed her palm to her face. “And now I’m fat shaming, aren’t I?”

 

“Yes, but it’s sweet to see you confront your personal prejudices,” he told her, patting her head briefly. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I’m pretty sure he and Bogo are an item anyway.”

 

“What, you think so?”

 

“Well, they were dancing together at the Gazelle concert after the Night Howler case wrapped up.”

 

“That doesn’t mean anything. I mean it might, but I doubt it.” Judy waved her paw briefly. “Bogo can be a real jerk, but do you think he’s the sort of commander who would break department rules and a date subordinate?”

 

“Huh, good point.” Nick cocked his head. “I’ll note you didn’t argue about whether Bogo is gay or not.”

 

“He’s in his early fifties and never married. I’d be kinda surprised if he _wasn’t_ gay.”

 

Nick grinned evilly. “Assumptions again, Carrots. He could be just asexual.”

 

Judy facepawed again. “ _Cheese and crackers_ , you’re right! Augh!”

 

Nick snickered.

  


**0115 hours**

 

“I spy with my little eye…”

 

“We’re not doing this, Nick.”

 

“Sorry.”

  


**0200**

 

“Don’t those idiots ever _sleep_?”

 

“They’re raccoons, Nick. Nocturnal, like you.”

 

“Even I get tired at 2 AM. If they’re going to stay awake, they could at least leave their apartment and find a nice garbage bin to explore.”

 

“Now who’s letting their personal prejudices get the better of them?”

 

“Hush, Carrots.”

  
  


**0230**

 

“Thirty minutes until Francine and Fangmeyer relieve us.”

 

“Don’t watch the clock, Nick. It makes the time go slower.”

 

“Twenty-nine minutes, thirty seconds.”

 

“ _Cheese and crackers…”_

  


**0300**

 

There was a knock on the apartment door. Judy hopped up onto Nick’s shoulders to peer through the peephole, then opened the door eagerly. “Francine, Fangmeyer, _great_ to see you!”

 

“Hi, Judy. Anything happen while you were watching?” Francine asked, sliding through the door with only a little effort, Fangmeyer following.

 

“Not a darned thing,” Nick said. “Enjoy the next twelve hours of excruciating boredom.”

 

“That’s okay, I brought a book,” Fangmeyer told them, holding up her tablet.

 

As they headed down the stairs, Nick said to his partner, “Judy, I know this great place across the street where we can sack out.”

 

“Looking forward to it,” Judy agreed with a yawn. She pulled out her radio and called, “Central, this is Officers Hopps and Wilde. We are officially _off_ the clock.”

 

“ _Hopps and Wilde, stand by,_ ” Clawhouser’s relief called back. “ _Your assistance is needed._ ”

 

“What..?”

 

From the top of the stairwell they heard the thunder of elephant hooves and tiger paws. The two smaller officers had just enough time to plaster themselves against the wall as Francine and Fangmeyer rushed past, the latter shouting, “Follow us, the deal is going down!”

 

“We’re not going to get to sleep for another three hours, are we?” Nick asked dejectedly.

 

“Nope, c’mon partner!” Judy ran down the stairs, Nick following, into the early Zootopia morning....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To hear the song Nick was singing, [click on the link.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc)


	13. Field Duty

Nick let Judy drive them through the early Saturday morning traffic to the ZPD Police Academy on the outskirts of town. The late winter air, outside of Zootopia’s massive climate modification system, was wet and chilly, and the sun was having a hard time burning through the cloud cover. He hopped out with his partner as they pulled up the jogging track on the extensive grounds.

 

“5K for me, 10K for you?” he asked Judy, as they started going through their stretching exercises.

 

“Only because you’re so slow,” she teased.

 

“I prefer to think ‘deliberate’,” Nick countered. He tapped his NipBit, checking his step count. “I work for endurance. I’ll leave chasing down perps to you.”

 

“Whatever, Old Fox,” Judy said with a grin.

 

“Oh, that’s it!” Nick took off running, and Judy yelled and hopped forward to catch up with him. “Now who’s slow?” he teased back.

 

“You cheated on the start!” she puffed.

 

“You still caught up!”

 

She laughed and kept pace with him as they jogged around the track, getting their mandatory PT in. As they continued, they saw groups of police cadets emerging blearily from the academy barracks, lining up for their morning shout from Major Friedkin, the polar bear in charge of cadet training. “We should finish up soon, before the cadets need the field,” she huffed.

 

“We’ll be done long before then.” Nick turned his head as they rounded the track, spotted a rotund figure making their way through the obstacle course at the end of the fields. “Hey, Judy,” he said, slowing down, “Does that look like Clawhouser to you?”

 

Judy slowed with him, shading her eyes against the dawn. In the distance they could see a figure in jogging sweats, gamely making his way along the course. “It sure does. Boy, look at him!”

 

Jogging forgotten, they both headed towards the windstorm monkey bars. Without the heaters and the fans running, Clawhouser’s task was easier than that of your average cadet. But the heavy cheetah only managed to traverse three of the bars before he fell face first into the sand. Before they could reach him, Clawhouser stood up and made a one legged jump at the bars, trying to grab them. He fell back again, landing on his tail this time with a loud cry of pain.

 

“Hey, Benjamin, you okay?” Nick asked in worry as they finally reached him. Clawhouser’s fur was coated in sweat and sand, and his eyes were shut tight in pain.

 

“I’ll… I’ll be okay. Could you get my gym bag, is by the benches over there?” he huffed, waving towards the spectator bleachers.

 

“Sure thing!” Judy said, and dashed off to retrieve it.

 

“Whatcha doing out here, Ben?” Nick asked, squatting down beside him.

 

“Tr-training... “ he huffed again, as he tried to brush sand out of his pelt. “Same as you two.”

 

“Training?” Nick asked, but before he could inquire further, Judy returned, Clawhouser’s bag slung over her small shoulder.

 

“Thanks, Judy,” Clawhouser said gratefully. He dug into the bag, pulling out a bottle of Gatorade and a prescription pill case. He popped out a single pill and swallowed it with a swig of electrolytes, then put them back and pulled out a folding cane. “Yeah, I’m going to be feeling this tonight,” he wheezed, getting back to his feet as Nick steadied his elbow.

 

“Clawhouser, if you’re hurt, we should get you to a clinic,” Judy said in worry, as they followed the cheetah as he began hobbling towards the parking lot.

 

“No, no, I’m okay,” he said, smiling a little, even as his eyes narrowed in pain. “My hip gets like this sometimes, if I push it too hard. Got a little overconfident, after I walked a 5k around the track last week. I’ll be okay in a couple of days.”

 

Nick shared a worried glance with Judy, then said, “I thought you were always on desk duty. What’’s with trying to do the obstacle course?”

 

Clawhouser glanced at Judy shamefacedly, but then turned away, keeping his gaze on the distant parking lot. “I started trying to get back into shape after the incident with that fox, Volkov, and the Night Hunter serum. When her goons kidnapped your parents from the hospital, I tried to run after them, but I was too slow. If I’d been just a  _ little  _ bit faster...”

 

“Woah, woah,” Nick said. “If you’d been a little bit faster, you might have been in a running firefight with Russian mobsters inside the hospital, with Stu and Bonnie in the middle.”

 

“Clawhouser, you shot the one wolf that was going to kill me in my hospital bed,” Judy pointed out. “I can’t ask you to have done more than that, especially since you only do desk work.”

 

“I didn’t  _ always  _ do desk work.” He patted his overhanging belly mournfully. “I wasn’t always this fat either.”

 

“What happened?” Nick asked, as they walked with him back towards the parking lot.

 

“I spent two years as a regular beat cop, even did parking duty my first day, same as you, Judy,” he said. He smiled again, his expression brightening up. “I loved walking around, talking to folks in the neighborhood.”

 

“Were you injured in the line of duty?” Judy queried.

 

Clawhouser actually laughed. “That’s the silly thing, I wasn’t. I was just crossing the street walking to Central. A rhino in a pickup truck turned into the crosswalk without checking the right of way and hit me. Next thing I knew I was on the ground with an EMT standing over me, wondering what the heck happened. Had to get my hip replaced. It was really  _ frustrating  _ trying to walk again after my surgery…" He waved a paw briefly. "Well, you know how it is, Judy.”

 

The bunny nodded, likely remembering her own long recovery after being mauled by one of Volkov’s polar bears. “I know. I felt so weak and hopeless.”

 

“Yeah. I begged Chief Bogo to put me back into the field, but the doctors just wouldn’t clear me. But Chief Bogo knew it hadn’t been my fault or anything, so he gave me my job at the front desk. Which was  _ great, _ because I could talk to almost everybody who came into the station. But when I wasn’t talking to anyone, it got kinda boring, so I started  _ eating _ . Well, I mean in the old days I ate a lot too, but it never stuck because, y’know, cheetah metabolism.”

 

“Do you want to go back in the field?” Nick asked.

 

Clawhouser scratched his jowls briefly. "I'd like to walk a beat again, but I wouldn't want to do it if I wasn't sure I could handle the job."

 

"I know exactly what you mean," Judy agreed.

 

"Tell ya what," Nick said. "I know a guy who helps folk with physical therapy. He owes me one, so maybe next week I can have him come over to the Academy and watch how train, and see if he can't come up with a plan for you."

 

" _ Awwwww, _ that would be so  _ sweet! _ " Clawhouse dropped down to one knee and gathered Nick up into a hug. The smaller fox yelped, feet waving helplessly as Clawhouser stood up again.

 

"Ack! You're welcome! Ribs,  _ ribs! _ " Nick panted, gasping in relief as he was let down.

 

"Thanks, Nick! I'll see you guys back at the station!" Clawhouser said, and hobbled back to his car.

 

"Guy doesn't know his own strength," Nick said, rubbing his side with his paw.

 

"I hope he manages to get his weight back down," Judy siad. Her expression grew teasing. "I could use a partner who can keep up with me." She hopped away, angling back towards the track.

 

"You'll never get rid of me, Carrots!" Nick called after her.


End file.
